Preston North End: Club release new statement regarding training ground

Championship side Preston North End have released a statement regarding their plans for a new training ground for their players ahead of the upcoming season.

Recently, Preston North End’s bid for a new training ground was knocked back due to rejection from Lancashire Council. However, a separate application was granted approval despite a split vote. The plan can only go ahead if both applications have been accepted.

The reason for the council’s rejection of the application is due to their concerns over housing developments and resulting in a detrimental impact on the local community.

Today, the club released their statement and gave their thanks to those who had supported their appeal: “First of all we would like to place on record how grateful we are for the reaction of our supporters, the Leader of the Council, Peter Rankin, and Mark Hendrick MP.”

“As we said last week, we will continue to strive in our objectives with or without the support of our own City Council.”

“We will shortly be announcing our next move in our attempts to change the current stance of our local planning committee.”

The Lilywhites are just one of five teams in the third tier of the English football league that have not been in the Premier League.

Peter Ridsdale, advisor to owner Trevor Hemmings, who represented PNE spoke about the importance of a new training ground will boost their likelihood of achieving a place in the Premier League in the future: “There are enough reports to show the economic benefits to a city when it gets Premier League football.”

“We want our city to be proud of us and we want to deliver Premier League football.” [Lancashire Post]